Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So I'm completely new to the forums but have been eyeballing teardrops for years. I bought my first one and it gets delivered Sunday. It is brand spanking new. A 4x8 "square" "doghouse" design, very similar to the runaway navigator. It has a galley in the back with a mini fridge, stove and shelves. The inside is nothing but a shell with a fantastic fan in the roof. Now I'm looking to hang bathroom cabinets on the wall that separates the interior from the galley. It is 3/4" thick plywood. My question is how much weight can it support? I found these sweet ikea cabinets that I think would look great and 3 of them would fit perfectly across the interior, but weight 25lbs a piece so that's 75lbs. Can it support that, and if not any suggestions? Ideally I'd like one cabinet on each side with shelves in the middle holding a tv/computer. Anyways any help and any ideas are geary appreciated.

In the teardrops I build, I find the 3/4" plywood to be more than strong enough to support the cabinets you intend to use. Make sure the screws you use will not penetrate through the other side of the plywood and into your galley. Also, I wouldn't use drywall screws as they tend to be somewhat brittle and may break given the vibrations in a moving teardrop.

How come don't go through the other end? My original plan was actually using bolts that came out the other end. So you're saying just use 1/2 screws or so? Any specialty type screw or fastener? I'm a complete beginner at this so if I'm asking a dumb question I do apologize I'm just trying to figure everything out.

Id glue and screw or you could bolt it through the bulkhead, whatever floats your boat...either will work

1/4" bolts using t-nuts would settle the question. But yeah, a 3/4" bulkhead is plenty strong.

T

Thanks for the info everybody. Just one more thing I asked the gentleman who's building my teardrip about this dilemma and he said he wouldn't put that weight on it. In fact he said he would do more than 30lbs or so on the wall. Any ideas on why he'd say that?

Phishstyx wrote:Thanks for the info everybody. Just one more thing I asked the gentleman who's building my teardrip about this dilemma and he said he wouldn't put that weight on it. In fact he said he would do more than 30lbs or so on the wall. Any ideas on why he'd say that?

I'd guess the way he's got the bulkhead attached to the sidewalls.

T

I just kinda figured it was all universal as to how they are attached. I'll have to find out more information from him and let you all know.

"Lipped" shelves work great. It was how my Hunter came out of the factory. That was in 2004. Here's my DIY 'drop and I wouldn't have it any other way. Everything is accessible, organized and doesn't bounce around on the road.

You could build a lip on the walls and your bulkhead to hang them:



T

I think the hesitation of your builder to fasten to your back wall is fear that the screws may pull out due to the cantilever leverage of the cabinets. Another approach is to build a cleat along the bulkhead wall between the galley and teardrop interior. add short cleats to the sidewalls and construct a shelf for your cabinets to sit on.

I build my galley cabinets in place. Below is a picture of the cleats that I used. The side cleats are screwed into 5/16" thick material. The bottom of the back cleat is fastened into 1/8" plywood and 3/4" framing. The top of the back cleat is fastened into 1/8" plywood only.



(If you do something like this, your cleats don't have to be that deep. An 1" to 1-1/2" would be sufficient. I had panels top and bottom of my cleats to form a space for cubby holes and a center drawer.)

This is a picture of my "shelf":



And here is the finished product: